My Topic Focus

Knight of Coins

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Humanoid male of primarily English ancestry seeks permanent, long-term relationship with robust stream of passive income. Interests include the Germanic Runes, Classical music composition, finance and investing, hypnotism, the pursuit of arcane knowledge, and obscure folklore. I own my own business and live in the depths of a deep green forest in the fog-shrouded coastal mountains of Vinland.

Recent Posts

This article examines the struggle between the Persian Empire and its golden archer coins, and the Athenians and their silver owl coinage. Greek silver money struck from the Laurion mines played a key role in financing the Athenian fleet deployed in the decisive Battle of Salamis, which forced the conquering Persians to retreat to Asia. Later, however, the Athenian silver was unable to win the day against the militaristic Spartans, who were said to have banned coinage entirely, and allowed only the use of iron money to circulate among their own people.

This article examines the introduction and spread of money, commercial markets, and banking in Ancient Greece. Following the introduction of Lydian gold and silver coinage, the Greeks developed prospering monetary economies that played a major role in their cultural and political development. Many aspects of their economic legacy spread throughout the Mediterranean and beyond, and was eventually expanded by the imperialistic ambitions of Macedonia and Rome.

This article examines the legendary origins of the rich Lydian "white gold" (electrum), which King Croesus the Rich later melted down and minted into one of the West's first pure gold and silver system coinage systems. According to legend, the Lydian gold was the legacy of King Midas, who washed away the cursed golden enchantment at the headwaters of the Pactolus River. The rich kingdom of Lydia was conquered by foes, but the legacy of its coinage spread throughout Greece and Asia Minor, and became a central pillar in the development of most Western monetary systems in later eras.

This article examines the Ancient Egyptian grain-banking system, and its centralization at Alexandria in Ptolemaic Egypt. Grains have often been used as early forms of commodity money, but the Egyptians were notable for developing a system of grain money into a complex and sophisticated banking system. The centralized grain-banking system, at its apex, was said to have been so extensive that the size of its operations were comparable to those of the large banks of the modern era.

This article examines the origins of money and banking in Ancient Mesopotamia, including the origin of the Akkadian shekel based on the use of grains as commodity money, the temple bankers of Babylon, the ancient Code of Hammurabi and its provisions on bankers and money-lenders of the ancient world, and the legacies of two ancient Babylonian business dynasties: The Grandsons of Egibi, and the Sons of Maraschu.

This article examines the history of the stone money of the island of Yap. Quarried from limestone crags hundreds of miles away, these circular stone discs were transported in hazardous overseas canoe journeys in order to bring them back to Yap for use as money. Some of the giant stones are as wide as 20 feet in diameter and weigh many tons, and have served as one of the most prestigious currencies used on the island.

This article examines the historic use of the cowry shell as a form of money throughout the ancient world, including the cowry shell imitation coins of ancient China known as "ant nose money" or "ghost face money," and the inflationary expansion of the cowry money supply that took place when cowry traders introduced great quantities of common ring cowries into circulation, along with the more scarce money cowries.

This article examines more unusual forms of commodity money, focusing on salt money, the use of parmesan cheese as bank collateral in Italy, and also the role of gold, silver and an array of far more unusual forms of monetary metals, including iron crosses, iron snakes, and iron money said to be possessed by an indwelling spirit.

This article examines some remarkable historic forms of commodity money, focusing on the use of Germanic, Greco-Roman and African cattle money, the use of beast-skins and pelts as money in Northern Europe, and the use of Whale's Teeth as money in the Fijian islands.

This article considers the subject of what money actually is, considering its ideal functions as a medium of exchange, unit of account, and store of value, among other aspects. It also briefly mentions some interesting forms of historic commodity money (in addition to gold and paper currencies), and the relationship of money's performance as a store of value to both debtors and creditors.

The French occultist known as "Eliphas Levi" was one of the most significant figures in the modern occult revival, in terms of his influence on later generations of occultists. While Levi was a romantic who enjoyed making up anything he wanted (such as the supposed correspondences between Hebrew Kabbalah and the Tarot trumps), this did not stop him from coming up with effective systems of magick because of his understanding of the "astral light" and his identification of autohypnosis as the operative technique in magick.

The reality of telepathic hypnosis was proved in the 1920s by Professor Leonid L. Vasiliev, the Director of the Department of Physiology at the University of Leningrad. Like the quantum physics experiments that would follow later in the century, the experiments also demonstrated the subconscious mind's transcendence over physical space, as hypnotists were able to influence subjects just as effectively separated by a distance of over 1,000 miles.

Part X of the history of astral projection, examining the astral projection techniques which modernist researchers at Stanford Research Institute rediscovered and studied in laboratories, initially with CIA funding. They renamed the practice "remote viewing," and found that they could access the well of information available to the collective unconscious, commonly known in occultism as the Akashic records.

Part IX of the history of astral projection, examining the astral projection techniques of the Golden Dawn. Although the Golden Dawn required its members to sign an oath swearing never to undergo hypnosis, the intensively concentrated visualization exercises practiced by the Golden Dawn were in fact autohypnotic in the same manner as in scrying.

Part VIII of the history of astral projection, examining the astral travels of the Theosophist Oliver Fox, who had a natural propensity to spontaneously enter a hypnotic trance state in which he could see into astral dimensions. Fox experienced terrifying apparitions as a child, but later went on to discover he could take control of these experiences through the use of self-hypnosis.

Part VII of the history of astral projection, examining the Theosophical theories of the astral planes, which are largely in sympathy with ancient Hermetic theories as well as those of many modern astral travelers.

Part VI of the history of astral projection, examining the studies of astral projection undertaken by the 19th century spiritualists such as Hereward Carrington, Sylvan Muldoon, and Allan Kardec, the last of whom used autohypnosis to evoke a spirit to visible appearance and converse with it to learn more about the projection of the astral body.

Part V of the history of astral projection, examining the astral visions of heaven and hell described by the poet Dante, the Swedish scientist and Christian occultist Emmanuel Swedenborg, and the Christian occultist, poet and channeler William Blake.

Part IV of the history of astral projection, examining the astral projections and astral visions of saints, nuns, and devout religious believers. Also includes a Norse tale of an astral projecting bishop, and a brief examination of some of the astral visions of Biblical prophets.

Part III of the history of astral projection, examining the nocturnal flight of medieval witches, shapeshifting, familiar spirits, flying ointments and the phenomenon of visible astral bodies of witches in flight.